Religions for Peace Australia has met on several occasions with leaders of many faith communities in Australia to ascertain the state of affairs with regard to the welfare of all during this time of Coronavirus with lockdown, loss of employment, loss of income and quarantine restrictions. The the outcome of these meetings is reported, along with recommendations for the welfare of overseas students, Temporary Protection Visa holders and asylum seekers, all of whom have fallen through the gaps in the welfare provided by government organisations. Several recommendations are made to the Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure.

Religions for Peace Australia will conduct the Annual General Meeting for year 2019-2020 online using Zoom on Monday 15 June 2020. Interested members of the public are invited to attend and listen to the presentations on Snap back/forward- recovery and resilience during Covid 19 time . These presentations will take place from 11:00am until 12:30pm

Greetings of peace! Hoping you are all keeping well and warm and absorbed in the task of sending thoughts of peace to the troubled world.!

Friday 5 June 2020 is UN World Environment Day. To honour the day and to create an opportunity to practise dadirri (deep listening to Country), Kris Schaffer has very kindly invited us to Potter’s Hill at South Arm.

The World Council of Churches executive committee released a public statement on the role of churches in the context of COVID-19. Focused on love, steadfastness, hope and courage, the statement reflects on the damage COVID has wreaked over the last five months—and how churches can offer hope.

“Though in some ways the pandemic has been a great equalizer in its range and global impact, it is also exposing and exacerbating the deep divisions, injustices, economic inequalities and racism in our societies,” the statement reads. “Churches and faith communities are called to accompany the most vulnerable people and communities, as well as to be in solidarity with each other.”

The church is called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, the statement reads. “We pray that churches everywhere will be empowered and equipped to be messengers of unity, trust and truth, against the voices promoting division, suspicion and unsubstantiated rumour.”

Initiatives of Change Australia is offering to you and your networks the unique opportunity to join in an online seminar with special guest speaker, Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, from the University of Illinois USA, on World Refugee Day, 20 June at 11am.

While it is a time of uncertainty and our lives have changed in a short period of time, it’s important to remember that we can do many things to feel better. Remember that these changes and your effort is helping to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

International Yoga Day is celebrated worldwide on 21 June of each year. Yoga is an ancient tradition which has many applications. Individuals practice yoga all over the world, and gain benefit the asana poses and excercises bestow. Other forms of yoga still the mind within, and grant inner peace and stillness. The United Nations proclaimed International Day of Yoga in 2014. The day is growing in popularity each year. This year, due Coronavirus and lockdown in various nations, there may be some restrictions on mass public yoga events.

Imagine Siddhartha is a person who has been protected by his loved ones from the reality of racism. He leaves his protected compound, perhaps a community gated specifically to separate itself from undesired people. He enters a place where he sees darker-skinned, unarmed people being shot dead by the police or perhaps by guards who serve to protect his enclosed community. Maybe he encounters darker-skinned people who are sicker and more malnourished than lighter-skinned people. What if Siddhartha saw that?

Washington, DC –The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order on “Advancing International Religious Freedom,” which elevates the U.S. government’s prioritization of religious freedom in its foreign policy; increases foreign assistance funding to $50 million annually; expands mandatory training on international religious freedom to more federal officials; encourages the utilization of economic tools; and more explicitly integrates international religious freedom into U.S. bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.

Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. The NSW Ecumenical Council invites you to join in an online session of Meditative Prayer using the songs of Taizé on evening of Friday, June 12, 2020 at 6 PM – 6:45 PM.

Black Jews are tired, and we have been tired for a long time. But most of us – more than most, I’d say – are nonetheless hopeful.

We’re hopeful that despite being ignored and failed in the past, our allies will do the work we are often too exhausted to (but do anyway). We’re hopeful that our leaders – who speak of tikkun olam (repair of our broken world) and b’tzelem Elohim (the idea that we’re all created in the image of God) – will act to repair the world by screaming in the face of racism, rather than sitting in silence; that they will act as though the Black faces they’re defending are the actual faces of God.

Pope Francis begged world leaders on Saturday to act wisely and generously to provide social and economic relief for the many workers who have lost jobs, and called for the enormous sums of money used to grow and perfect armaments be instead used to fund research to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.

The Australasian Association for Buddhist Studies notifies that its next seminar will take place online using Zoom on 4 June at 6:30pm (Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney time). The topic will be Buddhist Tantric Poetry: Frameworks and Practices.

National Reconciliation Week 27 May – 3 June 2020 National Reconciliation Week is an annual celebration and is a time for all Australians to reflect on our shared histories. National Sorry Day is a nation-wide observance held on May 26 each year.

Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad – Grand Mufti of Australia – delivers a message to all Muslims in Australia that they support the Oneness of our Australian Community as well as the Oneness of God. Eid Ul-Fitr is the Muslim festival which marks the end of the month of Ramadan, the end of fasting and a celebration to mark the completion of a month of self-reflection. It falls on this Sunday 24 May 2020.

This week, 42 faith institutions from 14 countries announced their divestment from fossil fuels. This is the largest divestment from fossil fuels from faith institutions around the world to date. Faith organisations in the UK, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Myanmar, Spain and the United States are taking part.

Religions for Peace Australia acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land and community. We pay our respect to them and their cultures, and to the elders both past and present.

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2020 Interfaith Calendar

Multifaith Chaplaincy

Multifaith Chaplaincy is a research and development project by Religions for Peace Australia to develop culturally diverse chaplains in the religions that provide services to multifaith Australia. You can read more about Multifaith Chaplaincy

Back your neighbour

The government is withdrawing support services for people living in our communities who have fled war and persecution, including financial support and trauma counselling from victims of torture. Read more here

Importance of Interfaith Dialogue

Anti Racism

Religions for Peace Australia has partnered with the Australian Human Rights Commission Anti Racism Strategy

Racism – Community Reporting Tool (Victoria)

Regardless of where you’re from, what you look like, what you believe or what language you speak, no one should have to endure racism in the place they call home. You can report racism you have experienced in Victoria, here.

Australian Religious Response to Climate Change

Religions for Peace Australia is a global, community-based organisation working for global peace across the world and for social cohesion in Australia in other countries, and for peace and co-operation between the religions of the world. It works for an understanding of the benefits that religion and religious moderation brings to society, and works against religiously based extremism that is violent. Religions for Peace Australia has affiliates and branches in all states of Australia.

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